Most pneumatic instruments use a simple but highly sensitive mechanism for converting mechanical motion into…
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There are many process control applications in the industry where it is desirable to have multiple control…
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Sometimes we encounter a diversity of instrument signal standards in one control system. Such is the case with…
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The purpose of a control valve actuator is to provide the motive force to operate a valve mechanism. Both…
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A simple control system drawn in block diagram form looks like this: Information from the measuring device…
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A very common form of on/off valve used for pneumatic and hydraulic systems alike is the solenoid valve. A…
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A limitation inherent to pneumatic valve actuators is the amount of air flow required to or from the actuator…
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Imagine a major marathon race, where hundreds of runners gather in one place to compete. When the starting gun…
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In some process applications, it is important that the control valve be able to completely stop fluid flow…
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Displacer level instruments exploit Archimedes’ Principle to detect liquid level by continuously…
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All masses require force to accelerate (we can also think of this in terms of the mass generating a reaction…
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A vertical column of fluid generates a pressure at the bottom of the column owing to the action of gravity on…
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Some analyzers measure the composition of a process stream by directly immersing the sensing element in that…
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Finally, we arrive at the loop diagram (sometimes called a loop sheet) for the compressor surge control system…
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Fluid pressure exerts force on any surface area it contacts, as described by the formula \(F = PA\). One…
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Labwork is an essential part of any science-based curriculum. Here, much improvement may be made over the…
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Pipe is a hollow structure designed to provide an enclosed pathway for fluids to flow, usually manufactured…
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Self-balancing mechanisms consisting solely of a baffle/nozzle detector coupled to a feedback bellows, while…
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A different strategy for controlling the flow of fluid is to insert a rotary element into the flow path.…
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A Safety Instrumented Function, or SIF, is one or more components designed to execute a specific…
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In a manually-controlled process, a human operator directly actuates some form of final control element…
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The digital multimeter (DMM) is quite possibly the most useful tool in the instrument technician’s…
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Learning from reading printed text is a kind of problem-solving activity it is own right. The problem is how…
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So far we have just looked at instruments that sense, control, and influence process variables. Transmitters,…
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A positive displacement flowmeter is a cyclic mechanism built to pass a fixed volume of fluid through with…
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A proximity switch is one detecting the proximity (closeness) of some object. By definition, these switches…
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Filled-bulb systems exploit the principle of fluid expansion to measure temperature. If a fluid is enclosed in…
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The term “grid” refers to the conductors and equipment interconnecting power sources to power…
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A level switch is one detecting the level of liquid or solid (granules or powder) in a vessel. Level switches…
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Calculus has a reputation for being difficult to learn, and with good reason. The traditional approach to…
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Few areas of mathematics are as powerfully useful in describing and analyzing the physical world as calculus:…
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An on/off valve is the fluid equivalent of an electrical switch: a device that either allows unimpeded flow or…
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Mechanical pressure-sensing elements include the bellows, the diaphragm, and the bourdon tube. Each of these…
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The following animation shows how the “rotating” magnetic field of a three-phase AC induction…
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Every flow-measuring instrument exploits a physical principle to measure the flow rate of fluid stream.…
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The Law of Mass Conservation states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. The Law of Energy…
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Control strategies such as cascade, ratio, feedforward, and those containing limit and selector functions can…
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Most pneumatic instruments use a simple but highly sensitive mechanism for converting mechanical motion into…
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The following animation shows the calculus concepts of differentiation and integration (with respect to time)…
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Measuring the flow rate of liquid through an open channel is not unlike measuring the flow rate of a liquid…
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A fundamental principle in instrumentation system troubleshooting is that every instrument has at least one…
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By definition, a source is a device delivering energy into a system, while a load is a device extracting…
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Temperature measurement devices may be classified into two broad types: contact and non-contact. Contact-type…
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Converting between disparate units of measurement is the bane of many science students. The problem is worse…
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Using filter cells to eliminate wavelengths associated with interfering gases is called positive filtering in…
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Sensors used to measure vibration come in three basic types: displacement, velocity, and acceleration.…
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Nearly every technical course teaches and tests students on definitions, basic concepts, and at least some…
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All substances are comprised of various elements in various combinations and proportions. Elements may thus be…
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A bridge circuit is basically a pair of voltage dividers where the circuit output is taken as the difference…
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Classical mechanics (often called Newtonian mechanics in honor of Isaac Newton) deal with forces and motions…
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A whole class of problem-solving techniques focuses on altering the given problem into a simpler form that is…
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This section shows some of the many instrument symbols found in different types of technical diagrams used to…
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All masses require force to accelerate (we can also think of this in terms of the mass generating a reaction…
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The fundamental principle of electromagnetism is that an electric current will create a magnetic field at…
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For better or worse, there are no fewer than three different forms of PID equations implemented in modern PID…
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Control strategies such as cascade, ratio, feedforward, and those containing limit and selector functions can…
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When a high-energy photon strikes an atom, it may eject one of the lower-level electrons from its shell,…
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Electromechanical relays may be connected together to perform logic and control functions, acting as logic…
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Steam boilers are very common in industry, principally because steam power is so useful. Common uses for steam…
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The Law of Continuity for fluids states that the product of mass density (\(\rho\)), cross-sectional pipe area…
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